Agencies can apply an exception to section 508's requirement to provide accessible and compliant documents if the creation of a compliant version would cause "an undue burden." Undue burden is defined as a significant difficulty or expense. However, the definition is not precise and is open to interpretation. Undue burden is a legal issue. Your agency should not consider such an exception without consulting legal counsel.
To determine if the undue burden exception applies, an agency must consider and thoroughly document the difficulty and expense of compliance in relation to all agency resources available to the program or component for which the product is being acquired.
When an agency qualifies for an undue burden exception, section 508 still requires it to provide an alternative means for individuals with disabilities to access the information. This means that even if the document is not accessible, the information or data it provides must be available through an alternative means of access. For example, an agency might provide a plain text version of a document that is not otherwise accessible.
